powderfreak

That’s a solid radar loop!

Yeah it’s been a very light upslope season on the whole. Usually there are a couple distinct events or like 4-8” upslope after a cutter… we can survive a winter on that sometimes ha.

That EURO run is what we all love to see though for sure. Hot cutter late week. Then arctic cold over the weekend. Then hot cutter again by day 9-10. What a sequence.

70F in February would be funny to be honest. If it's not going to snow, might as well go for broke.

Snowpack in New England is usually only two warm cutters away from a real bad time unless it’s a truly bomber snow year. Life in the East. It won’t be pretty but we’ll make the best of it.

45F to 27F now… locking up tight out there. Ski surface conditions are now screwed until it snows again or warms up. Ungroomed stuff will be basically unskiable and groomers likely the classic eastern granular.

March 2001, March 2007 are my favorites. March 2011 had a 24-30 incher of dense snow. March 2017 had a four foot storm (named Stella by TWC) that was synoptic followed by huge upslope. March 2018 had a big one too. 2007 though from mid-January through April was absolutely obscene. Valentines Day 2007 is still the biggest most impactful snowfall I've seen up here. There was a St Patty's Day storm that dropped 12-18" synoptic and another like 18-24" upslope. I remember that was one that started out as a coastal plain storm and then kept hugging and amping up until go time (where'd those storms go? Ha). April had like 6 feet of snow. I remember an event where it snowed like two feet of concrete at the base of Stowe and then changed to like over an inch of rain. That snowpack was so beefy that winter.

You could tell it was struggling to cool off depending on mixing. MVL was bouncing from upper 30s at calm to mid-40s with wind several times over night.

Definitely a concern. It can change in a hurry both ways... a couple big rainers or one 2 foot wet snow bomb. But yes right now there's definitely some concern of natural snow if we start stacking rainers. We are over a foot below normal right now, that's spring base depths if everything had an extra foot on it.

All detach high speeds are usually 1,000ft/min... many can actually do 1,100/min but are run at 1,000ft/min as the tramway board approved line speed. Our FourRunner Quad, Gondola and Sensation Quad run at that line speed unless wind or something else dictates a slower speed. Sunny Spruce Quad services a lower level skier beginner/low intermediate so that gets run at 800ft/min to help with load/unload. In the summer we'll do 800 or lower on the Gondola as that foot traffic is more sightseeing and also less knowledgeable at loading/unloading like skiers. They can be a bit more timid as many have never ridden a gondola, so the line speed is dialed back. Its also more of an experience than skiing which is just "get me to the top as fast as you can." Places will run their lifts at what is optimal speed too... meaning that maybe 1,000ft/min leads to more stoppages as people fall or misload... but at 800ft/min there are less stops so it actually is more efficient to run at that speed in some cases, if you average the throughput.

I do love big vertical on a fast lift. That’s what makes for a big mountain ski experience. When you get on a lift and it delivers you quickly (line speed of 800ft/min or more) to large vertical of 2000+ feet, it’s a fun experience. The difference in weather and snow surfaces can be extreme over that distance. Gotta love it.

Any strong SW flow where afternoon 850s rise above 0C are going to torch in lee side mixing. Most spots are in the 40s with gusty winds looking at the ASOS network across New England. It's been a while since we haven't been frigid for a period of several days. Sunday and into early next week will jack up the heating demand again. The peaks are staying cold though which is all that matters. Preserve the snow up high as long as possible, down where people live it's nice to get a break from the real cold stuff. Very western US or even European mountain climate vibe right now... mild dry flow down low while the high terrain keeps the snow. I love that stuff.

It was hard to complain today. Conditions were perfect for the steeper terrain around NNE.

Daily ski conditions are impossible to know at any lead time and can change on a dime. A passing rain shower just prior to a freeze, or a nice 2-3" round of snow showers lead to extremely different conditions. The east is fun like that. The actual surface snow that we ski on that day is what matters, not the conditions leading up to or after a certain day. Very hard to predict at any lead time. I hear ya on the Toll House concerns. It's the lowest elevation area (all natural snow) at 1,300-1,400ft with no snowmaking. That terrain needs to maintain snow. The Mansfield Stake up top has only been in the low/mid-40s lately. Below normal but serviceable. Very dense. The Toll House base area right now with daily grooming is only a foot of depth. Ski area grooming machines are very heavy and compact the snow quite a bit. That foot of packed snow would take time to melt, but a warm week could also end the Toll House lift. Operations will manage it as best as possible, limiting grooming when temps are highest and avoid grooming in the rain. No reason to open up the snowpack with a large machine in thaw times. Snowfall at lower elevations is always a good thing for Toll House.

These warm days with low dews are so nice. Like 45/18 at MVL… keeps snowmelt in check. Felt warm on the mountain but snow stayed dry above 1700-1800ft despite above freezing temps. 3” from yesterday up there led to nice soft bumps in mild temps… I want this for a month lol.

Sun blasted out up here 1-2 hours ago and it feels hot on the hill in the sun. Spring vibe with some pow left still on upper mountain from the recent 3-4” past 36 or so hours while base area 1500ft is like sit outside on the patio spring weather. Water dripping off the rooflines, etc.

Been seeing wet snow most of the day at 1,500ft that hasn't accumulated much past 1/2-3/4th an inch that fell this morning. Seems pretty warm out. No doubt these are rain showers down in town. 3,000ft has seen about 1.75" and it's dense/wet... probably 0.25" water. Holding in the upper 20s at 3500-4000ft.

It's been a minute since I've gotten a bit annoyed at temperatures and January did that, ha. If I don't walk outside to -15 to -27 again this winter I'd be all right with that... and riding chairlifts with wind chills of -40F gets old. Felt like twice a week for a month there was a Wind Chill Advisory or Warning up. Wasn't even able to get the dog out much in the last month or so as her paws start to hurt after about 10 minutes below like 15 degrees and she just stands there lifting them up off the ground. I could go for a while of like 15F to 35F type temps and increasing daylight hours. Its obviously going to snow again and sometimes warmth brings larger systems... more risk but some reward.

It’ll snow again.

Far NNE will be like Bob in SE Mass this fall when people talked about back broken... "Don't tell me the back is broken when...(snowpack is in my yard) or (I'm still running my A/C)." We all know what it means though... big difference between January -7 departures and the second half of February pattern. Just like the difference between July and September. Yesterday I did notice the steep south facing road banks were getting destroyed by the sun.

Saw Mount Washington poking above the horizon earlier from Stowe.

HRRR really likes Jay Peak in the next day or so. Over 1/2" of water as snow, can see the little spec. These are the events that fly under the radar though and add to their annual total. They can easily pull 5-10" on SW flow with some Lake Ontario connection and then NW flow behind the system. Pretty cool how you can see the Adirondacks rob moisture from the rest of the Greens, but up north of the 'Dacks that moisture makes it to Jay Peak area.

Not gonna lie, today was real nice. Looking forward to spring. Long daylight, blue skies, comfy temps…

BTV has one of the busiest stretches of road in the entire state going right through the upslope zone too… I-89 between BTV and MPV. The ski areas provide great data too as they are just lined up north to south with cameras now and it’s just a generally busy area (relatively speaking) for Vermont. If there’s a type of weather to study and dial in around here it’s orographic mesoscale stuff. That and downslope or mountain wave wind events.

Yeah buddy. Winter vibes.